Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-10-21
LIAM QUARTERNAIp
OR
4 BROWNING CITY

his gestures OF dissent, to be putting the
other side of the question before MN.
Then Nyleptha spoke in liquid accents.
Little did we know that she was pleading
for our lives Finally, she turned and ad-
dressed tall soldier-like man OF middle
age. with black beard and long PLAIN
sword-whose name, as we aIter"aru
learnt was Nasta. and who was the great
est lord in the country-apparently appeal
ing to him for support. Now when Sir
Henry had caught her eye and she had
blushed so rosy red, / had seen that the
incident had not escaped this mans notice,
and, what is more, that it was eminently
disagrceable to him; for he bit his lip, ana
his hand frightened on his sword hit.
Afterward we learnt that he was an aspir-
ant for the hand OF this queen in marriage,
which accounted for it. This being so, Ny
leptha could not have appealed to worse
person; for, speaking in slow, heavy tones,
he appeared to confirm all that the High
Priest Agon said AS he spoke Sorais put
her elbow on her knee, and, resting her
chin on her hand, looked at him with
suppressed smile upon her lips, rs though
she saw through the man, and was de-
termincd to be his match; but Nyleptha
grew very angry. Her cheek blushed, her
ewes flashed and she did indeed look love
". Finally she turned to Agon and seemed
10 give some sort of qualified assent for he
bowed at her words; and, as she spoke. she
moved her hands as though to emphasize
her words. whilst all the time SoraiS kept
her chin on her hand and smiled. Then
suddenly Nylcptha made a sign and the
trumpets blew again, and everybody rose
to leave the hall save ourselves and the
guards, whom she motioned To stay.
When they were all gone, she bent for
ward, and. smiling sweetly, partially by
signs and partially By cXClamatiOns, made
il clear to us that she was very anxious to
know where we came from. The difficulty
was how to explain; but at last an idea
struck me had my large pocket-book in
my pocket, and pencil. Taking it out, l
made a little sketch Of a lake, and then,
rs best | could drew the underground riv-
er and the lake at the other end. When
had done this. | advanced 10 the steps of
the throne and gave il to her. She under
stood it at once, clapped her hands with de-
light, and, then descending from the
throne, took it III her sister Sorais who
also evidently understood Next he took
the pencil from me and, after examining
IL with curiosity, proceeded To make
series Of delightful little sketches, the first
representing herself holding ont both hands
in welcome, and Il man, uncommpuv like
Sir Henry. taking tacm. Next she drew IL
lovely little picture pt hippopOt,.mus roll
ing about dying IN the water, and of an in
diyidual, in whom we had no difficulty in
recognizing Agnn the High Priest, holding
10 his hands in horror on the bank. Then
followed most alarming picture Of a
dreadful merry furnace, and of the same fig
,.ft inn inf with fnrlyn ed
stick. This picture perfectly Mortified me
but was n little reassurcd when she nod
dod swectly and proceeded to make a
fourth drawing of n man, again uncom-
monty Ike Sir Henry, and Of two women,
in whom | recognized Sorais and herself,
each with one arm around him, and hold
ing sword In protection over him. To all
of these, Sorais, who saw was employed
I'm carefully taking us all in-cspccally
Curtis-sgnitcd her approval by nodding.
At last Nylepthu drew n final sketch of a
rising sun, indicating that she must 90,
and that we should meet on the following
morning. whereat Sir Henry looked SO
disappointed that she saw 1t, and, | sup
pose by way of consolation. extended her
hand to him to kiss, which he did with
plous feryor. At the same time, SuraiS,
from whom Good had never taken his eye
glass during the whole indaba Gutcrview),
rewarded him by giving him her hand to
kiss, though, while she did SO, her eyes
were fixed upon Sir Henry. | am glad to
say that was not implicated in these pro-
Ceed!ngs; neither of them gave me their
hands To kiss
Then Nyleptha turned and addressed the
man who appeared To be in command of
the body-guar,l, apparently, from her
manner and his frequent obcisancCs, Civ
ing him very stringent and careful orders;
after which, with somewhat Coquettish
nod and smile, she left the hall. followed
by Sorais and most of the guards.
When the queens had gone, the officer
whom Nylcptha had addressed came for
ward, and with many tokens of deep re-
spect led MS from the hall through various
passages To n sumptuous set of apartments
opening out of n large central room lighted
with brazon swinging lamps Uor it was
now dusk), and richly carpetcd and strewn
with touches On a table in the center of
the room was set Il profusion of food and
fruit, and what is more, flowers Ser
wants male and female, also were there TO
minister To ia, and whilst we ate, from
some recess outside the apartment
Tho silver lutte did speak between
The trumpCt's iOrdly blowing;
",'U wv '""'''' - III sUt
-, .,, d U'"s ~, u'I
ut"'u y 't'' 'H,'', VI 'n"' US uS'''s itlSh
'''S' WIZ" ,''''""e" ~ '"'''"''' us 10 the
u''n,'1' h"' :" very weary were we with
srIycs a,,tc me- In m,,i
and as soon "a it was over we indicated
TINT we dnsirnI ia gloom 81 tb,r, Iod no
off and would have given us a room each,
,,-g ,,,,,t., H., 49,, .....I1
two in room. As a further prccaution
against surprise, we left UmslOpogaas with
his ax to sleep in the main chamber, near
the curtained doorways leading to the
apartments which we occupied respective
", Good and in the one, aud Sir Henry
and Alphonse in the other. Then throw
ing oil our clothes, with the exception OF
the mail shirts, which we considered it
safer to keep ON, we flung ourselves down
upon the low and luxurious touches, and
us.
In two minutes was lust droppin,r off
whom was aroused by Goods voice.
II say. Ouartermofn q. No sa,t lid Won
ever see such cvcse"
Ewes" | said. GROSSLY. 'what cvese"
"Why, the queens. of course! Sorais,
Imcan-at least think that is her name >,
oh don't know" | yawned, Il didn't
notice them much; | suppose they are good
eyes" and again dropped or
Five minutes ar So claDSad and | wns